Ostracized by my Family
by DefiGraviti
Summary: How does Benny really feel about his former Bohemian family? Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, kudos to the genius of Jonathon Larson.**

I now know what it's like to be ostracized by my family.

I was never like the rest of them. Maureen and Mark both escaped from over-zealous Jewish families who tried to shove their religion down their kids' throats. That wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't been so disapproving of their art, but they were practically shunned when they revealed that they really didn't want to go into their respective family businesses. But can anyone picture Mark working at a hardware store or Mo scanning celery at the local food mart? I sure can't.

And then there's Mimi. Mimi's mom kicked her out of the house as soon as she was eighteen, told her to get out and never come back. Apparently Mimi was an accident from a one-night stand and she was actually born with HIV. Her whore of a mother made it very clear to her every day of her life that she was never meant to happen and that all this could've been avoided if only the stupid condom hadn't broke. So Mimi moved to New York with her childhood friend Angel. They lived out on the street for awhile before they managed to pull enough money together from the Cat Scratch and from drumming donations to rent a crappy apartment.

Roger. Roger wanted to start a rock band. His parents wanted him to go into accounting. So one night when he was seventeen, he caught a bus to New York City and didn't leave a forwarding address. He hasn't talked to them since. Then he and Mark met up at one of Roger's gigs that Maureen had dragged him to a couple months later and the two became instant friends.

Then we shift to Collins. He had a great relationship with his parents at first. They loved the fact that he was a college professor and they even approved of the fact that he was gay. But the minute he told their stout democratic butts that he was an anarchist, we never got another call at the loft. I have to say that I was secretly glad and I'm pretty sure Collins was too, but those monthly monetary 'donations' were sorely missed when the rent was due. Collins then met Maureen at a protest that she was staging against the new bill that the governor of New York was passing against the homeless, and they instantly bonded over rebellion.

And Angel. Angel never had a great relationship with her dad. Her mom died when she was a baby, so that left her overly macho father to raise her. He wanted to take him hunting; she wanted to paint her nails. Now they haven't spoken in close to five years, ever since Angel grabbed her pickle tub and a few spare bucks and left the house for good. How do I know this you ask? For after all, Benjamin Coffin III left the group long before Angel was welcomed in. Well, I was actually friends with Angel long before she rescued Collins from the street. I got to talking with her one night when a bunch of skin heads were messing with her and I was about to step in, only to find that she was perfectly able to take care of herself. That's also the night I met Mimi come to think about it. Mimi and I started dating a few weeks later but it wasn't much, it only lasted about three months before she broke it off.

Then there's Joanne. Out of all of them I think she has the best relationship with her parents. I mean after all, she _is_ a lawyer, isn't that every parent's dream for their kid? But the fact that she's a lesbian has never fit to comfortably in their cushy suburban lives. They're not outwardly hostile about it, but they conveniently seem to forget about it every time they talk to Jo. And they refuse to meet Maureen.

So then there leaves me. My parents are great, actually. They gave me some cash when I decided to move to New York City to pursue a career in acting rather than go to college. That money allowed me to rent a loft, and when I happened to meet Roger and Mark at the life café a couple weeks later and we discussed our bohemian dreams I invited them to move in with me. Then Mark introduced me to Maureen and Mo introduced me to Collins and Roger introduced me to his new girlfriend April; and the rest, as they say, is history.

We were a family in every sense of the word. We took care of each other. We laughed together. We knew each other inside and out. There were no lies because everyone knew everyone so well those secrets were eased out within minutes. We were so close and so accepting and so full of _love._ We all had one amazing year. It was perfect, just the six of us in that cramped loft. Roger sang, I acted, Maureen hosted protests, Collins got kicked out of three local colleges, April painted, and Mark filmed it all.

But then Collins found out that his boyfriend had given him HIV and Roger and April started shooting up. Then we found April dead in the bathtub and Mark and Maureen broke up from the strain of Roger's withdrawal. Maureen moved out and Collins got a job at NYU. Our family was falling to pieces.

Then I met Allyson. She was so _different _than anyone I had ever met before. She wasn't pushy like Maureen or needy like April. She wasn't an artist, but she supported my dreams. And she never came home drunk or high or with a blazing temper. Instead she always smelled of lavender and her blue eyes would shine when I would tell a joke. She was perfect. Ally opened up a whole new world for me, away from my shattering family in the lower East Village. She introduced me to a world away from poverty and away from finding rats in your fridge or dead friends in your bathtub. She introduced me to a world full of _her._ I didn't want to leave them and she never asked me to, but I knew that more than anything I wanted her to be my wife. So I honored Ally's family's old fashioned traditions and I asked her father for her hand in marriage. He consented, only on the condition that I would join his business and move to the better part of New York City. I agreed, because I couldn't imagine a life without her.

I never wanted to be a sellout. I never wanted to abandon my friends. I invited them to the wedding but they refused to come. I tried to attend some of Roger's concerts and visit Collins up at NYU, but every time I made an attempt to salvage our shattering friendships it was made very clear that I was not wanted. Ally's dad managed to convince me to buy the building I used to live in, using a loan he gave me. I offered Mark and Roger, the only two left, free rent which they coldly accepted. I meant for it to be a peace offering, but they took it as me shoving my new money in their faces.

They somehow managed to put their broken family back together, plus a few new people but minus me. That crushed me. Then I decided to open up a Cyber Studio for artists in the East Village to produce their art. I thought Roger and Mark would be happy about it, but instead Maureen launched a protest against the eviction of Tent City. I honestly hadn't realized until I had signed all the paperwork that there were homeless people in that lot, and it was too late to change anything when I found out. Then my father-in-law insisted that I put my foot down and stop it. So I did. I couldn't risk Allyson's happiness could I? And if she knew that her father and I weren't getting along she'd be crushed. Then Angel died and I paid for her funeral. But that only served to get me in trouble with Roger because he thought that I was stealing Mimi from him. But I wasn't, I was only trying to be a friend to her while her best friend was dying.

No matter how hard I tried they wouldn't accept me back. My friends, my _family_ completely shoved me out of their lives and made me the enemy. They thought I wanted to shove my new life in their faces, while all I really wanted was to be let into my old one. I may have great parents, but I don't care any more.

I now know what it's like to be ostracized by my family.


End file.
